Vegan Tahini Muffins

In Orthodox religion during the 48 days of Lent, which is the fasting period, no animal products are allowed to be eaten. Fasting doesn’t have to be boring or a torture, so I am always trying to create something out of the usual.

I was inspired to make these tahini muffins last fall, when Chef Jeena posted a recipe for Wholemeal Muffins. Those muffins looked so good that I wanted to recreate them immediately but unfortunately they had eggs and milk in them. I made Jeena’s recipe but instead of adding milk and eggs I added tahini and orange juice in the mixture. I filled them with a prune jam I had made and although they tasted great, I didn’t like their texture as they were kind of sticky and the muffins were flat. I never posted about these muffins because I wanted to perfect them first.

I discussed this with Jeena and she told me to replace the eggs with flaxseeds. Now that was new to me!! I had never used flaxseeds before nor did I know anything about them.

I made a thorough google search to learn about these seeds and I was amazed to see that they are high in Omega 3 fatty acids and rich in fiber. In antiquity they were used as medicine. You can read all about flaxseeds here.

I had forgotten all about these muffins and flaxseeds until this morning when I read Joumana’s Tahini Brownies, so as I had all the ingredients I needed at home, except the jam, I made them a few hours ago.

I don’t usually post my recipes immediately as I have lots of older recipes which are waiting patiently for me to post them, but I was so excited that I had to share these with you.

In Greece we can get plain tahini but there is also a tahini mixed with honey. If you can’t get the sweet tahini, just mix enough honey until it is sweet. I made some of the muffins with only tahini and in some I mixed some pecans and dried cranberries. I must say that both were perfect.

oh my …just looked at the tahini oozing soft centre made me really hungry now 😀 My hubby loves Tahini a lot! We had the chance to taste Tahini with Honey when we were in Athens last Summer. Another treat we had was across the street of my Greek friend home, there lives a bee keeper! I had the chance to visit his work place and bought several gorgeous Pearly White honey and Thyme Honey fresh from his hives!

Thanks for sharing a lovely recipe! I'm going to KIV them and try them out soon.

Ivy these sound amazing! And they are so much healthier than muffins loaded with eggs and butter. My aunt from Kalymnos gave me a recipe for a tahinopita that I made last week … it turned out well and used only tahini and orange juice as the wet ingredients with no margarine or oil whatsoever. I will try and share the recipe soon too.

Those look so healthy and delicious! I adore tahini in savory or sweet applications, and this looks like a breakfast of champions.

Pandora

December 7, 2010

I love tahini! Can you please post the recipe?

Hey there! Welcome or Kopiaste.. to Greek Hospitaly, my virtual kitchen. My name is Ivy and I love food! Kopiaste, is all about healthy eating and living. I post tasty and healthy recipes, along with other health and food related things! Read more...